I've started this series of messages about a topic that I hope you find useful. In the first message I highlighted a tape by Dr. Emmett Miller that I have used for years with patients and myself.
Today I'd like to write about steps to good practice with tapes like this.
First though a little history. I learned about stress and its effects on the body from many researchers and teachers. Early influences on me included Ken Pelletier, PhD, and his seminal work "Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer". Then there was Hans Selye of course and his book " The Stress of Life". Third was Herbert Benson, from Haravard, who wrote the Relaxation Response which detailed his research into the physical effects of regular meditation. Then there was Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn who founded the Mindfullness Meditation clinic at Harvard and wrote "Full Castrophe Living". I would recommend every one of these books to you for their valuable insights.
A Simple Guide To Meditation or Imagery To Help You Deal With Stress.......
Meditation with imagery tapes is one of the techniques I recommend for stress management. A person who is riddled with problems often finds it hard to focus; which often leads to more problems cropping up due to their mistakes. Modern society often leads to us having too many ideas or problems to try and remember, deal with or manage all at once. Meditation techniques helps a person achieve a calm state of mind without having to resort to drugs. Every step to meditation is done in the mind and can be helped by listening to tapes like those I am reviewing in this series of posts.
Remember that meditation is not a one shot deal. It is almost impossible to attain a calm state of mind in just a matter of minutes, especially if it's your first time at it. It is essential that you keep on practicing meditation until you have conditioned your mind to instantaneously achieve the state just by thinking it. It is a learned process and once the brain learns it, you will find it possible to return to this calm state even without the tapes.
Here are some steps for a beginner to start with meditation and imagery as their Stress Management strategy.
Step 1: Find A Quiet Corner To Start Your Meditation
Distraction is a hindrance to those who are still starting out with meditation. When you close your eyes, your sense of hearing will be twice as good so it is quite possible to hear almost anything in your surroundings that will make it hard for you to concentrate.
For beginners, it is important to start out in a quiet place in your home where noise is non-existent. Close your windows and lock your door. If possible, you can tell everyone in your home to minimize their noise so that you won't get distracted. Turn off cell-phones and beepers.
Step 2: Ready Your Position
It is advisable for beginners to avoid lying down when practicing meditation. The aim here is not to sleep, and it is a guarantee that you will immediately fall off to sleep if your mind reaches a relaxed state. To stop this from happening, you can start your meditation in a lotus position or you can find a chair you can sit on. Make sure that your back is straight and your hands are relaxed on the armrest or on your lap. Feet should be flat on the floor and not crossed. I like reclining a bit but not flat down in a sleeping position.
Step 3: Begin Your Meditation With Proper Breathing
A good way to start meditation is to do the proper breathing exercise. You inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This way, you can come up with a rhythm that you can easily focus on. Also, the amount of oxygen in your body will be enough to keep you relaxed. Keep practicing your breathing until you can do it easily without having to think about it. Dr, Miller's tapes will help you breathe properly.
Step 4: Focus On Your Mind and the Imagery Exercise
While you are busy with your breathing, you will achieve a state wherein your mind will start throwing images at you. These are mostly in random -- events of the day, future plans, problems and worries, fears and so on. It will be hard to ignore these thoughts and you are not supposed to ignore them. The gist here is to focus on these thoughts without really paying any attention to it.
This might sound hard but a here is a simple example to understand the concept. You know that you have furniture at home -- you can see them clearly with your eyes but you are not really concentrating on it. Focusing on the furniture will usually make you think of its color, its material, how it looks in that part of your home, and more. You need to be able to look at these random thoughts in a detached state -- seeing them clearly in your head but not focusing your attention on it.
Focus on the words on Dr. Miller's tape and relax into the experience. He combines music with his voice and sometimes sounds to all help you achieve a arelaxed, focussed state.
drBob
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